February 9, 2025

Flynyc

Customer Value Chain

Covid-19 impact: Gujarat’s wheat supplies to southern markets disrupted

Panic activated by the distribute of the Covid-19 virus has clouded the prospective clients of a excellent harvest viewed in essential rabi crops such as wheat, jeera (cumin seed) and dhana (coriander) amid other folks.

Gujarat, which is anticipated to harvest about 4.03 million tonnes of wheat in 2019-twenty, a little fewer than double of 2.three mt described for the calendar year 2015-16.

Cost falls

But the improved wheat production in the State is not most likely to fetch anything excellent for the farmers, as they fear costs to be suppressed by offer disruptions caused by Covid-19 scare in parts of the nation.

“Good rains and ample h2o availability has boosted the yields of essential rabi crops such as wheat, jeera (cumin seed) and dhania (coriander seed). But what we have observed is that the costs are likely down because of to the lower offtake and improved arrivals,” mentioned Ramesh Bhorania, a farmer primarily based in Rajkot mentioned.

In Rajkot marketplaces, wheat (new crop) costs were being quoted at ₹2,two hundred per quintal on February eighteen, which fell to ₹1,742 on Monday or about twenty per cent inside of a month, leaving farmers dejected.

Supply disruption

Trade sources discovered that a further issue creating the fall in costs is the disruptions in materials to southern States, which are significant buyers of Gujarat’s wheat. Saurashtra sells its wheat to Karnataka and Kerala by way of sea route. But amid the looming uncertainty more than the coronavirus distribute, the trade has been impacted and the buyers have halted the purchases.

“Karnataka and Kerala are amid the essential buyers of Gujarat’s wheat (a distinctive hybrid assortment). But buyers in people States are apprehensive about the demand and our traders are also anxious about the uncertainty more than shipments. Prices have fallen by about ₹500 a quintal and there may perhaps be further more dip if the arrivals carry on with out matching demand from buyers,” a trade supply instructed BusinessLine.

Notably, Gujarat experienced recorded 73 per cent jump in the wheat acreage to 13.95 lakh hectares in 2019-twenty, as against eight.07 lakh hectares a calendar year earlier.

Report wheat output

With enough h2o availability and favourable weather ailments, farmers expected excellent yields, taking the State’s wheat output to document concentrations. India’s wheat production in 2019-twenty is anticipated to contact an all-time higher of 106 million tonnes.

Arrivals of new wheat crop has started in large quantities. But the offer chain appears to be disrupted because of to bleak export prospective clients and diminished demand amid multiple lockdowns and limited actions, impacting vacation, tourism and regime industrial use.